Argumentative Essay On Junk Food

The supplemental nutrition assistance program (SNAP) has been providing nutrition assistance to low and no income families since 1964. Since its start, the program has evolved and now allows members to purchase “junk” food; however, this has caused many people to debate over this controversial topic. Critics question whether or not unhealthy foods should be eligible to be purchased with SNAP benefits, since they are not essential to the human diet. Regardless, junk food should continue to remain on the acceptable foods list because of the difficulty in restricting certain foods as allowable, the arbitrary description of “healthy,” and the decrease in cost for processed foods. Many people claim that junk food should not be eligible for purchase with food stamps. Members of SNAP are more at risk to health problems such as obesity, diabetes, etc because of the allowance of processed foods and soda. More than 40% of people on food stamps are considered obese. People believe that by removing junk food, it will promote healthy eating. Though a valid idea, SNAP was created to help families who are financially unable, to …show more content…
The USDA states that there are more than 300,000 food products on the market, and from 1990 to 2000, an average of 12,000 new food products was introduced to the market. The amount of work to determine which of these foods would be allowable, would be a massive operation. Also, whether or not the restrictions are followed, would depend on each individual cashier. They may not be able to tell whether or not an item is allowable or not, especially those without strong inventory control. These companies may accidently allow food stamps for unacceptable items, which would dismiss the idea of restrictions. By allowing food stamps to be used on junk food, there would be a lot less work in determining whether or not an item is